| Fall Book Reviews by IM John Donaldson Gambit Publications Ltd., PO Box 32640, London W14OJN, England, www.gambitbooks.com, phone 020-7371, info at gambitbooks.com Gambit Publishing The English firm Gambit, made up of GM John Nunn, GM Murray Chandler and FM Graham Burgess, has led a revolution in chess book publishing. The past few years the company has produced more than 75 books covering all aspects of the game. The titles have been of consistently high quality both in content and physical production. The majority of their titles are noted for their emphasis on improving the reader�s game. Most of the books have plenty of practical exercises for the student to test what he or she has learned. One would think that Gambit would have long ago run out of original topics for new books, but such has not been the case. One key to keeping the lines freshness has been a steady stream of new authors, many of whom have made their publishing debut with Gambit. Chess Endings Made Simple (2003, 144 pages, figurine algebraic, $19.95) by Ian Snape is a relatively slender but quite useful work on a neglected phase of the game. Snape�s book, which consists of 91 pages of explanations of essential endings, followed by another fifty or so pages of practical exercises, aims not to overwhelm the student. Snape selected what he feels are the most important endgames and nothing more. His idea is this is the core knowledge that the aspiring student needs to master. If you�re looking for an encyclopedic work, then Fundamental Chess Endings by Mueller and Lamprecht, also by Gambit, is the way to go, but I think this book is more than enough for most players below 2200. Essential Chess Sacrifices (2003, 224 pages, figurine algebraic, $24.95) by David LeMoir is a modern successor to Vladimir Vukovic�s groundbreaking The Art of Attack in Chess. Mr. LeMoir, who has authored two other books for Gambit, may not be as well known as some of the other writers for this publishing house, but he is quickly making a reputation for himself. His newest book is a methodical look at different sacrifices. The material is set up schematically with chapters devoted to different themes, like sacrifices on e6, Nf5 and Nd5 in the Sicilian, Bxh7+, etc. Mr. LeMoir does a good job of describing the conditions that make these sacrifices work successfully. There is plenty of prose to explain the ideas, as well as many exercises to test what the student has learned. The examples are a mixture of classics from the past, as well as new examples. It was nice to see the game Filatov-Mayer from Philadelphia 2000 included as a new example of the double Bishop sacrifice on h7 and g7, as NM Filatov recently passed away. How to Use Computers to Improve Your Chess (2003, 192 pages, figurine algebraic, $22.95) by Christian Kongsted, represents something new. Mark Crowther (Everyman) and Sarah Hurst (Batsford) have written books about chess and computers, but their works were primarily aimed at chess opportunities on the Internet. Mr. Kongsted has chosen to go in a different direction and offers some interesting observations. I would imagine that most chess players in the world, when asked to recommend a data based program, would recommend ChessBase, but Konngsted makes a case that both ChessBase and Chess Assistant each have their own advantages. Not only in the fact that ChessBase is the standard and Chess Assistant more economical, but also the programs themselves each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Kongsted, in eleven chapters entitled The History of Computer Chess, Inside the Machine, The Blind Spots of the Computer, How to Beat Your Computer, Hardware, Software, and Databases, Computer-Assisted Analysis, Improving Your Opening Play, Improve Your Tactics, Improve Your Endgame Technique, Playing Chess on the Internet, and Computer Chess in the Future, covers pretty much everything you would want to know about the Silicon monsters. He explains why computers will inevitably get stronger and stronger and yet humans will still be much better in certain areas of the game, such as long-term strategic thinking. One example given in this book is the difficulty programmers face in defining what is a bad Bishop. Kongsted shows positions with White pawns on c2, c3, and d4 (Anand, Timman, Dortmund 1999 and Fedorowicz-Rey, San Francisco 1998) where the computers have trouble appreciating just how powerful White�s dark squared Bishop can be. The author has plenty of good thrashings by GMs against their Silicon counterparts using the time tested anti-computer opening The Stonewall Attack, but he doesn�t limit himself to advocating that as humanities sole weapon against the machines. In his chapter on Blindspots in the Computer, he shows not only the vulnerability in the closed positions, but the difficulties in certain endgames where the horizon effect comes into play. Anand�s famous escape against Fritz 6 at Dortmund 1999, where the computer walks into an unbreakable pin certainly gives cause for hope. Lessons in Chess Strategy ( 2003, 176 pages, figurine algebraic, $19.95, Valeri Beim) When I was a 1900 player in high school, I remember going through the first book of Euwe and Kramer�s two volume work on the middlegame and the Dover edition of Pachmann�s Modern Chess Strategy. Working through them cover to cover I learned a tremendous amount and quickly found myself heading towards 2200. Until recently, the old cannons - Kramer and Euwe, Pachmann and Fine - were all the aspiring student had to work with. There have been remarkably few comprehensive middlegame books written in the last forty years. That�s changed recently. One recent welcome addition to the field is Lessons in Chess Strategy. The author of the well received Chess Recipes from the Grandmasters Kitchen, Beim has produced a work which combines the old classics with new examples. For example, in the chapter on the isolated center pawn, such classic games as Smyslov-Karpov USSR Championship 1971 and Korchnoi-Karpov World Championship 1981, are given alongside the contemporary example Donchev-Eingorn Debrecen 1992. Beim has arranged his material in nine chapters (The Geometry of the Chessboard, The Major Pieces, The Isolated Center Pawn, The Central Passed Pawn, The Space Advantage, Zugzwang, The Bishop Pair, Symmetrical Pawn-Structures, and Static and Dynamic Features) What makes this book especially valuable are the 124 exercises given to test the reader�s understanding. These exercises come with full and detailed solutions. The final two offerings by Gambit Chess Strategy in Action (2003, 288 pages, figurine algebraic, $24.95) by John Watson and Secrets of Chess Defense (2003, 176 pages, figurine algebraic, $24.95) by Mihail Marin are both exceptional books and I can give both my strongest recommendation without reservation. Those who enjoyed Watson�s ground breaking Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy are in for another treat. Volume one saw Watson advocate his theory that today�s top players practice �rule independence� . That old chessnuts like �the player with the two Bishops wants to open the position while the owner of the Knight pair wants to keep it close� are often wrong. Watson pointed out that typically the possessor of the two Bishops had to lose time to acquire them. That it was often in the interest of the player with the two knights to open the game to exploit his temporary lead in development. Chess Strategy in Action continues along the same vein with the old maxim a knight on the rim is dim in for a new look. After reading this book you may start to think that playing g4 is a requirement for being a strong Grandmaster these days! One word of caution, while Chess Strategy in Action is a wonderful book, it is wise to recall the words that Viktor Korchnoi has uttered at more than one young buck on the way up, �before you break the rules, you must first learn them�. Chess Strategy in Action is wonderful reading for those over 2200, but non-Masters should first read Beim�s Lessons in Chess Strategy. The author of Secrets of Chess Defense may not be that familiar to the general chess public, but he will be once this book receives well-deserved acclaim. Romanian GM Mihai Marin has written a wonderful book that is not only educational but also funny. Amazingly no translator is credited. Either Marin is completely at home writing in English or editor Burgess has done an outstanding job preserving the author�s voice as he relates anecdotes from his days playing on the Romanian national team. Secrets of Chess Defense covers many subjects that have been poorly dealt with in the chess literature including Two Minor Pieces for a Rook and the Economy of Resources in Defense. Reading this book one cannot help but appreciate that Marin possesses a high level of chess culture. My advice is buy Watson and Marin�s books and call in sick to work for a couple weeks! |